Monday - April 19, 2010

EU loses it’s one last remaining marble

Brussels has declared that tourism is a human right and pensioners, youths and those too poor to afford it should have their travel subsidised by the taxpayer.

Under the scheme, British pensioners could be given cut-price trips to Spain, while Greek teenagers could be taken around disused mills in Manchester to experience the cultural diversity of Europe.

The idea for the subsidised tours is the brainchild of Antonio Tajani, the European Union commissioner for enterprise and industry, who was appointed by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister.

The scheme, which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds a year, is intended to promote a sense of pride in European culture, bridge the north-south divide in the continent and prop up resorts in their off-season.

Tajani, who unveiled his plan last week at a ministerial conference in Madrid, believes the days when holidays were a luxury have gone. “Travelling for tourism today is a right. The way we spend our holidays is a formidable indicator of our quality of life,” he said.

Tajani, who used to be transport commissioner, said he had been able to “affirm the rights of passengers” in his previous office and the next step was to ensure people’s “right to be tourists”.

The European Union has experience of subsidised holidays. In February the European parliament paid contributions of up to 52% towards an eight-day skiing trip in the Italian Alps for 80 children of Eurocrats.

Tajani’s programme will be piloted until 2013 and then put into full operation. It will be open to pensioners and anyone over 65, young people between 18 and 25, families facing “difficult social, financial or personal” circumstances and disabled people. The disabled and the elderly can be accompanied by one person.

Horry clap, they’ve gone completely over the edge. You have the right to time off and a stay in a luxury spa resort, even if you don’t have a job to take time off from. They’ve gone nuckin futs!

When they decide that a brand new Audi S6 with all the trimmings is a human right, I’m moving. A black one, tinted windows, Blue Tooth, bitchin’ stereo, big engine. Yeah, I’m entitled. It’s my right.

Utopia: It’s all fun and games until someone has to pay the bill.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/19/2010 at 06:46 AM   
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   Thursday - March 18, 2010

The Lion of Lucerne, The Swiss and a EuroSeptic rant from Mary Ellen Synon

My postings today may be very lite to nil. Never expected such a busy day when we got up early this morning. Busy with old documents and papers and shredding, and all due to an old lady who died 14 months ago.  We thought we were done finally, a month or two ago. Ha.  I guess the old dame had other plans for us.

I read the following late yesterday and didn’t get to post it. It’s quite interesting.  For example,

the cowardly royal family fled the palace

Just exactly what were they supposed to do?  After all, there’s a baying bloodthirsty mob outside just itching to rip you apart.  What are you gonna do if you’re an over indulged royal who probably isn’t in any shape to fight anyone, and a queen with no military training?  Isn’t run for your life the normal instinct in their particular case? 

EuroSeptic, Matty Ellen Synon
The Mail

Now Brussels says the loyalty and the bravery of the Swiss isn’t European

On Tuesday the European Commission proposed widening an existing ‘European heritage’ label, which they stick onto sites which the eurocrats decide are part of European ‘common history.’ The idea is to feed propaganda about how we all have a ‘common yet diverse cultural heritage.’

Problem is, when the scheme was set up four years ago, some eurocrat (clearly off-message) let Switzerland join the scheme. Three sites in blissfully-non-EU Switzerland are listed as part of European heritage.

Now however the Swiss will be cut out from adding more to the list.

Such a gesture is a disgrace. While on the one hand I welcome any distance Switzerland can put between itself and the undemocratic empire of Brussels, the idea of insulting the Swiss and their history in order to feed the lie that ‘Europe is the EU and the EU is Europe’ is shameful.

So, I shall nominate a Swiss site which ought to be added to anyone’s list of European history. It is the Lion of Lucerne, which commemorates the Swiss Guards who were slaughtered by French revolutionaries on August 10, 1792.

The Swiss were posted at the Tuileries Palace. Their duty was to protect Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and their children from the revolutionary forces taking over the streets of Paris. Even as the cowardly royal family fled the palace, the Swiss stayed true their oaths as soldiers. They knew their duty. They fought to the end.

And what an end it was, with more than 600 hundred Swiss dead on the day and hundreds more dead later of wounds or butchery in prison.

Simon Schama describes it this way in his history of the revolution, ‘Citizens.’ The Swiss Guards ‘were given neither shelter nor quarter. Hunted down, they were mercilessly butchered: stabbed, sabered, stoned and clubbed. Mutilators hacked off limbs and scissored out genitals and stuffed them in the gaping mouths or fed them to the dogs.’

In reply to this barbarity, Robespierre called it ‘the most beautiful revolution that has ever honoured humanity.’ Which tells you almost all you need to know about the French.

And in reply to this barbarity, the Swiss built a magnificent and heart-breaking monument, the Lion of Lucerne. Which tells you almost all you need to know about the Swiss.

Here is how the American writer, Mark Twain, described it after a visit in 1880: ‘The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff—for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking into his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France...’

‘Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion—and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.’

Above the lion is the Latin inscription: ‘Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti ‘-- The loyalty and bravery of the Swiss.

The rest of Europe is unworthy of such a nation.

the swiss source

Posted by peiper     on 03/18/2010 at 12:18 PM   
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   Friday - February 26, 2010

INSIDE THE EU …..OH BOY. THIS IS GOOD. THANKS LYNDON

I read about this in the morning paper but didn’t know there was actually a video of the attack (verbal) on the EU honcho.

The fellow doing the harangue is a UKIP member. That’s a small but vocal party here in the UK and it is the UK Independence Party. Now then, Mr. Farage who is doing all the shouting is the head, or the former head of UKIP.  UKIP is somewhat to the right of the conserv. Tory party but I don’t think as far right (or is that left?) as the racist BNP Party. One thing you folks in America will appreciate about this fellow, he wants a BAN on Al Bore’s film shown in schools. He may have lost that battle.  Outside of that, I know little of him.

So then ...H/T LyndonB for the link to this YT video.  It just never occurred to me that there would be any video of his “tirade.”

MEP and UKIP leader Nigel Farage on Wednesday delivered another major tirade against EU President Herman van Rompuy during a plenary debate in the European Parliament. Farage highlighted the undemocratic fashion in which van Rompuy came to power and the effect he’s had on Europe since.
He noted, too, that Greece has been reduced to nothing more than a “protectorate.” Farage added that Van Rompuy had the “charisma of a damp rag” and the appearance of a “low-grade bank clerk” and asked by what process he could be removed from office.

Don’t forget that van Rompuy led statements leading up to the Copenhagen climate summit in hailing “global governance”: “2009 is also the first year of global governance, with the establishment of the G20 in the middle of the financial crisis. The climate conference in Copenhagen is another step towards the global management of our planet.”

Posted by peiper     on 02/26/2010 at 09:47 AM   
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   Tuesday - February 23, 2010

EU court rules on how brits spend their cash ….

I’m not posting the entire story. You can read the rest at the link. This is some kinda crapola folks.  This is a good example of the way a country loses it’s sovereignty.
The city council is “studying the ruling.” NO damn it.  You should say FUCK YOU to the EU. Tell em if they’re so fuckin concerned about this .... person ....
let them foot the damn bill.

Man, I can’t wait to get outta this place.  Another year at least and we’ll be FREE! 

Somali mother can claim thousands in UK benefits because her children attend British schools, EU judges rule

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

A Somali mother-of-four is entitled to claim about £2,500 in benefits because two of her children are attending UK schools, EU judges ruled today.

Nimco Hassan Ibrahim was denied housing assistance because she and her estranged husband - a Danish national - failed to qualify for residency rights.

She appealed the decision by Harrow Council in north-west London, claiming that as her children’s ‘primary carer’ she should be allowed to stay on in Britain and qualify for state handouts.

Today the European Court of Justice directed the Britain’s Appeal Court to find in her favour.

It said that parents of children in school have the right of residence even where they cannot support themselves.

The ruling paves the way for Ms Ibrahim to claim thousands of pounds in rent, income support and council tax benefit each month. 

Cllr Barry Macleod-Cullinane, Harrow Council’s portfolio holder for adults and housing, said: ‘We are very concerned with this outcome, as it appears to establish a major new legal precedent over benefit claims.

source

Posted by peiper     on 02/23/2010 at 05:17 PM   
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   Tuesday - February 16, 2010

A SUPER SECRET SCARY PLOT PLANNED IN BRUSSELS ?  PART ONE

About two week ago I ran across an article that said the Belgians have this secret plot to rule Britain.  It was very interesting but at the time I had second thoughts about it. True, I have long held that England has moved their capitol to Brussels. But that was more or less dark humor as there was every evidense that the PM of this country was still loging at number Ten Downing Street.  However, I have honestly believed that no matter where they had the capitol, more and more I was reading and hearing things that looked askew.  I began to think that the Brits were losing their soverignty and it turns out that many of them agree with that position.
I still wondered if the idea of a secret plot against Britain wasn’t a bit OTT.  I don’t really think there’s any secret plot.  I think it’s out in the open for anyone to see who isn’t blind. Or blind drunk. OK so bottom line I decided to ignore the article.  BUT .... but then along came another article in yesterday’s paper.  Nothing to do with secrets and plots.  An outright decision made outside Britain with regard to a major pharmacy chain here called BOOTS.
Pharmacists here btw are called Chemists. So then ...  If you think of the biggest pharmacy chain in the USA, keeping in mind that Britain is an island, Boots can rival any of our biggest. We are not talking about a mom and pop operation here.
So this is the headline I saw.

BOOTS KOWTOWS TO BRUSSELS ON MOTHERS WHO BOTTLE FEED.

Huh?  Well, apparently there’s a move on to encourage moms to breast feed their babies. So what’s that have to do with Boots?  They also sell and promote and give loyalty points on milk for new babies. And there’s the catch right there.
Apparently it is against EU law to “promote” bottle feeding. So out goes the promotion and the savings offered to new mothers. BINGO. Score, EU 1, Brit soverignty ZERO.  (again)

Boots denies mothers loyalty points on baby milk - because of ‘politically correct’ pressure to breast feed

By Jenny Hope
Daily Mail

New mothers are being denied valuable money saving offers on infant milk formula because of ‘politically correct’ pressure to breast feed.

Boots says it cannot award loyalty points on milk for newborns because it is against EU law to ‘promote’ bottle feeding.

The store believes giving a bonus on feed for babies of less than six months might be seen as encouraging the practice.

Campaigners claim many mothers want to breast feed but cannot, leaving them no choice but formula.

Clare Byam-Cook, a midwife and breast feeding counsellor, said Boots was ‘between a rock and a hard place’ and condemned political correctness and red tape for making life harder for new mothers.

The Department of Health recommends exclusive breast feeding for the first six months, in line with international guidelines.

Research shows breast milk can protect babies against stomach bugs, chest infections, asthma eczema, and allergies. Under European legislation, Boots and other stores with loyalty schemes can be penalised by trading standards officers for ‘incentives’ to buy formula milk for babies up to six months. Parents can earn points on powdered milk for older infants.

SOURCE FOR A DASTARDLY DEED?

The Daily Mail in an editorial comment weighed in on the subject with this.

NANNY SUPERSTATE

Boots the Chemist’s craven decision to deny mothers loyalty card points when they buy formula milk is a stark illustration of how completely Brussels directives have insinuated themselves into the fabric of everyday life.

Incredibly, it is now against EU law to ‘promote or induce’ the bottle feeding of babies under six months and Boots are terrified the measly discounts their stores offer through the loyalty card system could earn them a hefty fine.

Of course, few would doubt that breast feeding is good for both mother and baby.

But for a variety of reasons both physical and psychological, not all mothers are able to breastfeed.

Many of them may already feel a sense of failure at having to use formula milk, which will only be made worse if they are treated like pariahs when they go out to buy it.

Could there be a more insensitive example of dystopian EU meddling?

Increasingly we are in the grip not just of a nanny state but of a nanny superstate.
-30-

AND THAT FRIENDS BRINGS ME TO THE DASTERDLY SECRET SUPER PLOT PLANNED IN BRUSSELS.

Posted by peiper     on 02/16/2010 at 02:29 PM   
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A DASTARDLY DEED WHEREIN A SUPER SECRET, SCARY, PLOT PLANNED IN BRUSSELS . PART TWO

I know the history of Belgium okay, but am not well versed on all the rest. I have a friend in Belgium who in the past has explained a few things re. the different peoples there and the squabbles among them.  That aside, I am less then a novice on that country and I hope Turtler is out there reading this and will offer his take on things.  I do believe Britain is losing sovereignty, I am pretty sure both Chris and LyndonB would agree. But a secret plot? Who knows.
I guess anything is possible in our world today.

Ordinarily I would break this up and let you finish reading at the link.  But this just too good and too interesting. 

SOURCE FOR SECRET PLOT

Van Rompuy and the secret Belgian plot to rule Britain

By Paul Belian, Belgian Lawyer And Historian
Last updated at 12:22 PM on 04th January 2010

Perhaps, like many, you think Herman Van Rompuy, who took office as the first EU President on Friday, is a harmless figure of fun. Well, you’re wrong.

Van Rompuy, a former prime minister of Belgium, represents the ‘Belgianisation’ of Europe - a process which began 180 years ago and for which Britain has only itself to blame.

Photo: Herman Van Pompuy

There is ominous symbolism in a Belgian ruling the EU. During the Second World War, Churchill called the Belgians ‘the most contemptible of all - a nation which vainly hoped to stay out of this war, no matter what they owed to those who had saved them in the last war’.

Yet the Belgian political model has since then stealthily conquered Britain, turning Brussels, not London, into the centre of power from which decisions are imposed on the British people.

Belgium was created by British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston in 1830-31. It is home to six million Flemings, three million Walloons and one million people in bilingual Brussels.

The country came about after French-speaking Walloons broke away from the Netherlands and tried to join France. Palmerston recognised the rebels on condition that they established a new state and remained neutral.

At first, everyone was sceptical about Palmerston’s creation. Even Belgium’s first king, Leopold I, said: ‘Belgium has no nationality and it can never have one. Basically, Belgium has no political reason to exist.’

By the late 19th Century the Belgian political elite had developed an ideology with a striking similarity to modern Europeanism. In 1904, the ideologist Leon Hennebicq wrote: ‘Have we not been called the laboratory of Europe? Indeed, we are a nation under construction… the solution is economic expansion, which can make us stronger by uniting us.’

His words foreshadowed the Europeanism of the Fifties, which aimed for political unification through economic integration.

But before this could be put into practice Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, forcing Britain to intervene in a Franco-German tussle to uphold Belgium’s neutrality. As neither the Flemings nor Walloons loved Belgium, they left Britain to do the fighting. The war left Britain with 700,000 military deaths.

After the war, the Belgian establishment put Hennebicq’s doctrine into practice. Since 1919, economic and social policies have not been decided in parliament, but between the government and so-called ‘social partners’, including the trade unions and the Federation of Belgian Employers.

Soon, the Belgians realised they could apply their ideas to Europe. In the Thirties, Henri De Man, leader of the Belgian Socialist Party, said his country’s ‘corporatist welfare state’ model should be turned into a European or even a global system.

When Hitler overran Europe in 1940, Queen Elisabeth, the widow of Belgium’s King Albert, described it as a ‘work of necessary destruction’.

Meanwhile, De Man saw the Second World War as a unique opportunity to establish a united Europe, asking his followers not to oppose the German victory because: ‘The Socialist Order will thereby be established, as the common good, in the name of a national solidarity that will soon be continental, if not worldwide.’

What was needed, he added, ‘was as much federalism and as little separatism as possible’.

De Man is now forgotten by history. His legacy, however, is very much alive thanks to his deputy, Paul-Henri Spaak, who settled in Britain during the summer of 1940.

He would go on to produce the Spaak Report which laid the foundation of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. It recommended the creation of a European Common Market, which would later become the European Union, as a step towards political unification and ‘an ever closer union of the peoples of Europe’. From the beginning, what these peoples might think was deemed unimportant.

Today’s EU is a shotgun marriage for the peoples of Europe. When the Danes voted against the Maastricht Treaty, and the Irish against Nice and Lisbon, they had to vote again. When the French and Dutch rejected the EU Constitution, their verdict was discarded.

Britain’s Government simply denied its people a say on the Lisbon Treaty, so Westminster is now legally obliged to ‘contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union’ - i.e. to further the interests of the EU, rather than those of its own people.

Make no mistake, the EU is an empire with global ambitions. In his acceptance speech, President Van Rompuy extolled ‘global governance’.

Legions of bureaucrats will rule the British from Brussels, the Belgian capital. Being proud of your Britishness will be criminalised, just as Brussels has always punished Flemings who put Flanders first.

Last November, Van Rompuy, although a Fleming himself, confessed in an interview: ‘I am a European because the European idea is an antidote for Flemish nationalism, an antivenin [an antitoxin against a snake’s venom] against the Flemish Movement.’

Two weeks later, he became the EU President. Van Rompuy is no harmless creature. He symbolises the conquest of Britain by Belgium, the monster created by Palmerston.

• Dr Paul Belien is the Flemish author of A Throne In Brussels: Britain, The Saxe-Coburgs And The Belgianisation Of Europe, published by Imprint Academic, Exeter.

Posted by peiper     on 02/16/2010 at 02:08 PM   
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   Wednesday - January 20, 2010

Holland … a place where your observations about a particular religion lands you in court.

Personally, I think Wilders is a hero.  His mistake, if you want to call it that, was to be openly critical of the ROP.
This is the man who for a time was denied entry to Britain because of his outspoken views.  Everyone and including the Dutch apparently, tip toe around muzzies and their religion like they’re walking on eggshells.  I guess they are. But there is a solution to this insidious problem. 

This is a VERY long article found at European News, and so I’ve cut it and the whole thing is at the link below.

The Wilders trial: Torquemada would be proud

International Free Press Society
By Arthur Legger

Any one who still claims that the trial against Geert Wilders MP, leader of the Party for Freedom (9 seats in Parliament and 27 in the polls), which starts on the 20th of January, is not a political process: get a grip.

Accused by the Dutch ‘Openbaar Ministerie’ exactly a year ago for insulting Islam, comparing the Koran to Mein Kampf and delivering hate speeches, the coming trial against Wilders suddenly got a Kafkaesque and potentially murderous twist. Finally, seven days before his first day in Court, all fangs were out and faces off.

“It is irrelevant whether Wilder’s witnesses might prove Wilders’ observations to be correct”, the ‘Openbaar Ministerie’ stated, “what’s relevant is that his observations are illegal”.

(So it’s come to that has it?  The freedom loving Dutch govt. can now prosecute (and persecute) a person for their “observations.")

Unexpected and breaching court procedures the detailed indictment of 21 pages, which Wilders received on the 4th of December and sums up in verbatim all of his Islam and Koran critique in interviews and Fitna, was amended with new accusations of racism against muslims and Moroccans. On top of this, Paul Vellerman, the public prosecutor of the Amsterdam Court decided that the Wilders trial had to be regarded as “an ordinary trial open for public and with a normal procedure, which doesn’t deserve the Department of Justice’s highly secured bunker. His is a normal case and we’ll treat it as such”.

It’s sad to note that Mohammed Bouyeri, the murderer of Theo van Gogh, and Volkert van der Gaag, the assassin of Pim Fortuyn, were tried in this specially designed bunker, but that Wilders has to rely on his personal bodyguards and full metal jacket to ward of terrorists. No safe room for him, which recently secured Kurt Westergaard and his granddaughter, but for months on end the vulnerability of a sitting duck.

The demonized Fortuyn

To a connoisseur of the classic art of Dutch political murder, revived in 2002 with the assassination of the deliberatedly unprotected and demonized Pim Fortuyn, this twist of fate comes, however, as no surprise. The ‘Openbaar Ministerie’ had to do something. Presented with much aplomb in January, already on the 10th of March it turned out that the case against Wilders had one crucial weak spot: it might not hold in Court.

For in a comparable case the Dutch High Court acquitted a Dutchman of his earlier conviction of ‘Group-insult’ of Muslims. He had been sentenced to jail for hanging a poster in front of his window that stated: “Stop the cancerous growth named Islam”. The High Court ruled that “if one insults a religion, one doesn’t automatically insult its believers”.

Gerard Spong, one of the lawyers who lodged complaints against Wilders, was quick to stress, however, that the case against an MP was far more complex than a poster: “Wilders is certainly not off the hook”. But to most professors in Law the High Court ruling proved that Wilders would win with his hands down. Ybo Buruma, a highly influential professor in Criminal Law at Nijmegen University concluded on the 11th of January 2010 that “the prosecution of Geert Wilders is a very nice exercise, but is utterly pointless for it will not lead to a conviction”.

Traditionally with such a High Court ruling and severe scholarly critique the ‘Openbaar Ministerie’ wouldn’t fail to reconsider and dismiss charges. But already a year ago the Wall Street Journal had immediately grasped that “Muslim-immigration [was] eroding traditional Dutch liberties”, forcing Dutch Law into a radically new course of censorship. Observing that Wilders’ critique of Islam outraged muslims around the globe, the Journal chided: “If freedom of speech means anything, it means the freedom of controversial speech. Consensus views need no protection”.

The Wall Street Journal must have been either clairvoyant or hysterically well informed: Paul Vellerman, Amsterdam’s Court public prosecutor, and Birgit van Roessel, the Court’s second public prosecutor, who’re both heading the trial against Wilders, also both are working for the National Expertise Centre Discrimination. This Centre is the leading organization of the ‘Openbaar Ministerie’ to track down “crimes of expression and speech”. The Centre was responsible for lodging complaints against cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot.

LINK TO THE REST

Posted by peiper     on 01/20/2010 at 04:17 PM   
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   Friday - January 15, 2010

EU LAW CHIEF SAYS BRITS MUST PAY BENEFITS TO FAMILY AND WIVES OF TERRORISTS.

Betcha many Brits would just love to whack this bleeding heart.  Hell, I’m not a Brit and I’d like to.  I kinda doubt the Brit govt. bad though it is, will go along.  But who knows?  The govt. is one of the left and nothing they do would surprise anyone anymore.
Just another nail in coffin of the UKs sovereignty if they approve this opinion.

Yes I know I keep banging on and repeating myself on the subject but .... Keep ur eyes opened America, and clean ur ears.  There are folks at home who are very happy to give up some American sovereignty in exchange for what they think is world harmony and peace etc.  You won’t find em on the right so that should narrow the field a bit.

Meanwhile txpayers, chew on this excerpt from my embassy newsletter. 

New USAID Chief Dr. Rajiv Shah, Sees U.S. Forging Deeper Partnerships Overseas

Shah says the U.S. government now wants to give foreign countries more control over how American aid is spent. But, he also says measures will be in place to make sure that money is used wisely. “As we, and if we, give up control to some extent in order to support country leadership, we should have high standards and we should have strong ability to track outcomes to monitor resources and how they flow and to ensure that we’re generating real results in a sustainable way for American taxpayers,” he said.

USAID currently provides $20 billion in annual aid to development projects around the world. The Obama administration plans to expand that to $50 billion a year by 2012 for healthcare, education and agriculture.

By William Ide
VOA News

The U.S. Agency for International Development has sworn in a new administrator, Dr. Rajiv Shah, at a ceremony January 7 in Washington. In an exclusive interview with Voice of America, Shah talked about the Obama administration’s plans to deepen its partnerships overseas and listen more to the countries the agency serves.

A 36-year-old medical doctor by training, Shah comes to USAID with expertise in agriculture. He previously served as the director of agricultural development with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and later in a top post at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But, he says, the mission of USAID is his passion.

As a son of Indian immigrants, Shah says that he started visiting India and other parts of the world at a young age and saw firsthand the kind of extreme conditions of poverty and human suffering that exist across the globe. “The opportunity to join an agency that has as its core mission working on that problem, working in a way that it’s respectful of the people who live in those environments and learns from them, is a great, great honor,” he said.

As head of USAID, Shah says he plans to hire several hundred new development experts and individuals with technical expertise to expand the agency’s work capacity.

Very busy next several hours so I’ll leave you with this article I just found in our paper.  Madness! Lunacy! MOONBATS everywhere.

WIVES OF TERRORISTS MUST GET THEIR BENEFITS BACK:  IT’S A HUMAN RIGHT, SAYS EURO LAW CHIEF.

By James Slack
Last updated at 7:02 AM on 15th January 2010

Wives of suspects who Britain says have links to Osama bin Laden have appealed against Treasury restrictions

Europe’s law chief wants Britain to reinstate the payment of tens of thousands of pounds in State handouts to the wives of suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban fanatics.

Ministers have halted benefit payouts made to the families of suspected terrorists to prevent the money falling into the hands of banned groups.

The Treasury says the power is a vital weapon in the war against terrorism. It stems from a crackdown on terrorist financing launched in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

However, the senior advocate of the European Court of Justice, Paolo Mengozzi, yesterday declared the decision to stop the payments was unfair on the grounds of human rights.

His opinion is likely to prove crucial when Europe’s highest court considers three test cases brought by the wives of British-based terror suspects later this year.

In eight out of every ten cases, the court has agreed with the Advocate General - making it highly likely the UK taxpayer will soon begin forking out hundreds of pounds a week to the families.

Whitehall officials have refused to name the families involved in the test cases - but all three of the husbands are foreign nationals on the United Nations list of international terror suspects.

They have been linked by security officials to Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban

The payouts to their wives include income support, child benefit and housing assistance worth ‘several hundred’ pounds a week.

Last night, campaign groups said it would be outrageous for the European courts to once again water down Britain’s anti-terror laws.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘It is absurd that this unaccountable European court is trying to dictate to the British Government how we spend our own money. British taxpayers are already sick of bankrolling the lifestyles of people who preach hate against our country, and there is no way that they should be able to fund their activities or their families through milking the welfare system.

‘Whether you agree with the judgment or not, it is a choice that should be made by our country, not these lawyers who are answerable to nobody.’

Under the Treasury’s rules, social security payments cannot be made available ‘directly or indirectly, to, or for the benefit of’ anyone who is on the UN terrorism sanctions list.

This has been applied to the wives of as many as ten terror suspects, who have been hit with licences restricting their access to state funds.

In the case due before the EU court, the three women claim this amounts to a violation of their human right to a family life.

Their first appeal was rejected. But in a second appeal to the House of Lords, Britain’s highest court, judges had concerns about how the law was being applied.

In April 2008, they asked the European Court of Justice to provide a ruling.

Any decision by the European court, which is expected to issue a final judgment in three to six months, will be binding on the House of Lords and on courts throughout the EU.

In advance of this decision, Mr Mengozzi issued a 26-page written opinion in which he argued the phrase ‘directly or indirectly, to, or for the benefit of’ suspected terrorists was very widely drawn.

He acknowledged that the payments made to the wives could benefit their husbands, but disputed whether those benefits could easily be converted into funds to finance terrorism.

Mr Mengozzi advised the European Court of Justice to rule that the extra restrictions were unjustified and violated the right to respect for family life.

Earlier this week, the European Court of Human Rights dealt a separate blow to UK anti-terror policy when it ruled the stopping and searching of suspects without grounds for suspicion was unlawful.

The searches had been a key plank of policing for over a decade.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 01/15/2010 at 06:48 AM   
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   Tuesday - January 05, 2010

ANOTHER DAFT IDEA FROM THE LEFT NANNY STATE WHO WILL INSPECT YOUR KITCHEN.

Well maybe not quite literally but it comes close.  Of course, there’s an election coming up in 5 months and so the pols are breast beating and tossing out ideas and claiming they’ll save not just the UK but ze verld as well.  Sure they will.

Grow ur own veggies they say. Uh huh. Like everyone is in a position where they can.  And even where some can, they may not be able to. Anyway, everyone knows veggies come from supermarkets so what’s this talk about growing ur own?

This govt. does tend to get into everyones lives. We already have two bins in our kitchen.  This loony tune wants to add a third?  Good luck with that. Can’t even imagine what they might come up with next. Hey I know.  Lets all collect it and then forward on to Al Bore’s house. Now that’s a positive thought.

by the way ... This idea has it’s origins in the EU, I have read. What a surprise.

Hey ... it’s still snowing.  Could be this time the weather guy has things right.
Our milkman made his 5am delivery at 9pm tonight.  I had him leave some extra eggs and bread for us. 

Hooray ... I think I may have my browser working at long last.  Still checking things out but apparently it was one of the add-ons causing a problem.
Now all I need to do is get more memory.  Ok, here’s the story.  Jerks!  No not you. Them. These guys.

Householders to be forced into using slop buckets for waste food or face penalty fines

By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 8:34 PM on 05th January 2010

Householders could be fined hundreds of pounds if they throw food scraps and vegetable peelings into the dustbin, it has emerged.

Instead they will be forced to use slop buckets.

Environment Minister Hilary Benn wants to ban food going to landfill sites - and for leftovers to be collected by dustmen and used to generate green electricity.

The move, which would see compulsory buckets in every kitchen, came as the Government published a major report on the future of food and farming.

The report - aimed at boosting food production, tackling climate change and improving the nation’s health - called on consumers to buy more British food, eat more seasonal food and grow their own fruit and veg.

And it controversially claimed that GM crops had ‘potential’ to help feed the world’s booming population.

But it also called for less food to go to rubbish dumps, where it releases greenhouse gases.

Before launching the report, Mr Benn went even further - and gave his strongest backing yet to a ban on food landfill sites.

‘I’m going to consult a little later on this year on getting to a point where we say we’re not going to put food in landfill anymore where we know we can turn it into energy through anaerobic digestion,’ he told the conference.

If the ban gets the go-ahead, slop buckets - already used to collect food scraps in millions of homes - would be extended across the whole country.

The proposals were condemned by critics.

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Time and again these new recycling policies always end up being based on punitive fines, which is the last thing ordinary families around Britain need.

‘It is fine to aspire towards more recycling, but any attempt to start policing people’s kitchen bins and registering their potato peelings will be a costly farce.’

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 01/05/2010 at 05:27 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Environment • EUro-peons • Fine-Dining • Nanny State • UK •  
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   Saturday - January 02, 2010

Slackers

Youths burned 1,137 cars across France overnight as New Year’s Eve celebrations once again turned violent, the French Interior Ministry said on Friday.

Car burnings are regular occurrences in poor suburbs that ring France’s big cities, but the arson is especially prevalent during New Year’s Eve revelry.

The number of vehicles torched was only 10 short of the record 1,147 burned this time last year, even though the Interior Ministry mobilized 45,000 police during the night—10,000 more than 12 months ago.

It said police detained 549 people overnight, compared with 288 in 2009 New Year celebrations. However, unlike in previous years, there were no direct clashes between police and youths. “The few disturbances that did take place were brought swiftly under control,” the ministry said in a statement.

For much of the world, they became iconic of France’s worst social ills: the burned-out carcasses of thousands of cars set ablaze during nearly three weeks of nationwide rioting in 2005. But as yet another orgy of automobile arson on Wednesday demonstrated, the torching of cars in France has not only become an everyday event; it’s also now a regular form of expression for disenfranchised suburban youths wanting to make sure the rest of the country doesn’t forget they exist. And their fiery presence is never felt so strongly as it is each New Year’s Eve — the day of France’s unofficial festival of car-burning.

In a country where car-burning isn’t a common symptom of socioeconomic unrest, news of so many automobiles being torched would be alarming — if not a sign of brewing insurrection. In France, however, word of the destruction that accompanied the evening the French call Saint-Sylvestre was met with a mix of Gaulic shrugs and low-grade peevishness.

Posted by Drew458     on 01/02/2010 at 09:26 PM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • News-Briefs •  
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   Wednesday - December 30, 2009

Response to the European Union’s Statement on the Death Penalty in the USA.

Dear BMEWS,
You well know how much I LOVE the effin EU.  Hang on every word and wish em all the very best. (of bad luck) I keep referring to them as stupid but in actual fact, they’re not really all that stupid. Yeah, maybe a little.  At least the ones on the left (which is most) are.  But they’re crafty and sneaky and well financed etc.  They’re also self serving but that isn’t any surprise. That’s also human nature.

Europe has it’s share of problems to be sure.  They have drugs and crime and immigration problems and all the other crap we have. Oh yeah, and a lot more muzzies then we do in the states. Oh boy, do they have problems of their own. But God bless the bastards.  With all of their very own problems, isn’t it wonderfully Christian and considerate of the pukes to try and guide us and help us along the road to their socialism.  Isn’t it great that the EU will take time out of it’s busy and bloated schedule to try and influence how America should face it’s internal affairs?  Gee, I was soooooo thrilled and overcome when I found this in my American Embassy newsletter last week.  Gives one that warm atomic feeling that makes ya just glow.

RAT BASTARDS!

17 December 2009

U.S. Response to European Union’s Statement on Death Penalty

Capital punishment in United States does not violate any OSCE commitments

United States Mission to the OSCE
Response to the European Union’s Statement on the Death Penalty
As delivered by Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Casey Christensen
to the Permanent Council, Vienna
December 17, 2009

We want to thank the European Union for its expression of concern regarding the death penalty in the United States.

The use of the death penalty in the United States is a decision of democratically elected governments at the federal and individual State levels and is not prohibited by international law. Capital punishment does not violate any OSCE commitments. The people of the United States, acting through their freely elected representatives, have chosen, in most States, not to abolish the death penalty.

The U.S. judicial system provides exhaustive protections to ensure that the death penalty is not applied in an extra-judicial, summary, or arbitrary manner. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that capital punishment itself does not violate the U.S. Constitution. However, capital punishment may only be carried out subject to the extensive due process and equal protection requirements and after exhaustive appeals.

Regarding the case noted by the European Union, we would like to point out that Mr. Bordelon had freely confessed to the rape and murder of his twelve-year old stepdaughter and has waived his right to all mandatory appeals. We will ensure that the appropriate authorities in the State of Louisiana be informed of the EU statement about his case.

Madame Chairwoman, the issue of the imposition of the death penalty continues to be the subject of vigorous and open discussion among the American people.

Posted by peiper     on 12/30/2009 at 09:03 AM   
Filed Under: • Editorials • EUro-peons • International •  
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   Friday - December 18, 2009

BORDER CONTROL IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.  ZERO, AS IN, HUH?  WHAT BORDER?

Now then folks, about this really odd thing referred to in the old bygone days.

National Sovereignty.

Huh?  Say What?  How you spell that?

A gaping hole in our £1.2bn ‘eborder’ net: Crackdown is hopelessly diluted to meet EU law

By James Slack
Home Affairs Editor
Daily Mail
December 18, 2009

Labour’s £1.2billion ‘electronic borders’ scheme to protect Britain from illegal immigrants and terrorists descended into a shambles last night.

The project’s success depends on logging every passenger movement in and out of the UK so police, border guards and the security service know who is here.

But, in order for the scheme to be ruled legal by EU bureaucrats, the Government has been forced to make a raft of concessions to Brussels.

These include EU citizens and their relatives - regardless of nationality - being allowed to enter the UK even if they refuse to hand over their personal details in advance.

Effectively, the crucial compulsory element of the eborders scheme has been stripped away for millions of people.

Even non-EU citizens will be entitled to fly to Britain without providing the details in advance to eborders so they could be scrutinised. They could, however, then be refused entry.

There is also a promise that carriers - such as airlines - will not face sanctions if they do not pass on passenger data.

It leaves a potentially gaping hole at the heart of a flagship policy which was supposed to make borders secure.

The fiasco emerged on a day of drama for the Home Office, which had been insisting all was going to plan with the hugely expensive project.

The scheme involved forcing passengers to give a raft of details before making any journey via UK ports and airports so these could be shared among police and customs officials.

THIS IS A HUGE EMBARRASSMENT FOR GOVT. MINISTERS. THEY HAVE SET UP THIS ELABORATE, HUGELY EXPENSIVE SYSTEM AND THE COMMISSION IS TELLING THEM IT ONLY WORKS IF PEOPLE VOLUNTEER.

SOURCE

EU Related:  Microsoft (MSFT) which I know some folks pronounce as mis-fit, (ok. that was me) which isn’t really fair of me, has had to agree that furture releases of the OS MUST include 12 browser choices.  Freekin commie rat bastards.  We all know the top 4 or 5. Even someone as lo-tech as me. Has anyone here had any trouble ever, finding another browser to use because MSFT did not bundle it with their os?  Jeez.  These euro ass wipes get to me. They have nothing better to do.  They have already fined Microsoft millions, or is it billions? I forgot. They were fined for being a monopoly. I know some of you have had less then flattering things to say about MSFT in the past and I’m not suggesting they are above criticism. But I think the commission (EC) went after deep pockets in their case.  Now they make this dumb demand.  It’s a small thing I suppose and it probably bothers me more then it does MSFT.
I just think they get their jollies going after a large American company.

Posted by peiper     on 12/18/2009 at 01:35 PM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • EUro-peons • UK •  
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   Saturday - December 05, 2009

The French, in the person of Mr. Sarkozy, have managed to anger the Brits this past week.

Just so you know, Sarko is referring to London when he says “city.”
Woo-Hoo and another Hoo.  That caused a bit of a flap this week I must say.  Whatcha gonna do? Brits and French have this love/hate thing. But really, Brits do not I don’t think, actually dislike the French. I may be wrong on that score.  I think they laugh at em a lot though and the French know it.

War has not been declared.

We are in charge now, Sarkozy tells the City

Francis Elliott, Suzy Jagger, Martin Waller and David Charter
The Times

Alistair Darling has delivered a blunt warning to the EU’s new French finance chief against meddling with the City of London.

As Nicolas Sarkozy gloated over impending curbs on the City, the Chancellor said that such moves would drive financial services out of Europe.

The French President’s glee at the appointment of Michel Barnier as Commissioner for the Single Market took on an edge of menace when he said that unfettered City practices must end.

“Do you know what it means for me to see for the first time in 50 years a French European commissioner in charge of the internal market, including financial services, including the City [of London]?” he said yesterday.

One of the very bothersome things about the new French EU finance chief is .... he is very left wing and much given to govt. control.
He hasn’t been very big on capitalism either, and has made no bones about that in the past.
The Brits I think were hoping to get that post btw.  At some point in time, either the EU will solidify and RULE supreme, or else collapse in upon itself. 

“I want the world to see the victory of the European model, which has nothing to do with the excesses of financial capitalism,” he said.

His implicit threat was just what Downing Street had feared when Mr Barnier, formerly an agriculture minister, was given the portfolio last week.

Mr Darling, writing in The Times , said that it would be a “recipe for confusion” if firms were supervised by the EU as well as national watchdogs and that Britain would not accept new laws that could lead to taxpayers picking up the bill for bailouts ordered by Brussels.

He rejects claims that the economic crisis was the fault of the “Anglo-Saxon” model, pointing out that French and German banks were among the biggest creditors of the failed US insurance giant AIG.

Terry Smith, a prominent banker, said that the threat of increased regulation was already threatening the City’s future.

“I’ve never seen so much work going on by companies, individuals and teams of people to evaluate relocation out of the UK,” he said.

SOURCE

SOMETHIN TELLS ME THAT THIS IS THE ONLY SARKOZY THE BRITS WANT TO SEE FOR AWHILE!  LOL

Posted by peiper     on 12/05/2009 at 08:00 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics • EUro-peons • Eye-Candy • Finance and Investing • FRANCE • International • UK •  
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   Wednesday - November 04, 2009

HOW PARLIAMENT CEDES CONTROL TO BRUSSELS ……….

This was on the front page of the Telegraph but there isn’t any link so had to copy.

It’s quite interesting I think.  So, Lyndon. What do ya think?  Good deal?  (sneaky ploy to induce a rant from our friend Lyndon. Stay Tuned)

HOW PARLIAMENT CEDES CONTROL TO BRUSSELS

EU PRESIDENT
TREATY creates EU president who will be full time Brussels official.  He or she will serve two-and-a-half year term and will be chosen by Europe’s leaders to chair their summits, set EU agenda and act as ‘face’ of Europe.

FOREIGN MINISTER
EU Foreign Minister will also have title of ‘High Representative’.
Office holder will be able to make foreign policy under his own initiative without a full British national veto.  He will chair meetings of Europe’s foreign ministers.

EU ‘INTERIOR MINISTRY’
Standing Commitee on Internal Security (COSI), dubbed an interior ministry by critics, will centralise databases holding fingerprints and DNA.  Britain currently opts out of most EU home affairs policies.

THE END OF 40 VETOES
Forty national vetoes allowing Britain to block EU measures against the national interest - will be scrapped.  A ‘ratchet clause’ will mean national vetoes can be stopped without approval of a full summit of EU leaders.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
TREATY strengthens Charter of Fundamental Rights, a legal text that business leaders claim will give unions more rights and hurt the economy.  Ministers say a ‘protocol’ means it will not apply to Britain.

Posted by peiper     on 11/04/2009 at 09:37 AM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • UK •  
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